Railway safety appliance.



Y No. 786,392. PATENTBD APR.4,1905.

- J. L. WALL.

RAILWAY SAFETY APPLIANCE.

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APPLICATION FILED OCT. 13.1904.

PATENTE'D APR. 4, 1905; J. L. WALL. RAILWAY SAFETY APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED OOT. 13.1904.

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Patented April 4, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. WALL, OF NEWTON, KANSAS.

RAILWAY SAFETY APPLIANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 786,392, dated April 4, 1905. Application filed October 13, 1904. Serial No. 228,278.

To all whom, it many concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN L. WALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newton, in the county of Harvey and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Safety Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in railway safety appliances, and has for its object the provision of means for preventing collisions between approaching trains or between trains one of which is standing on the railroad and the other following.

The invention consists in a series of rails or lever-bars located within the railroad-track adjacent the rails and on each side of the trackway, thus providing independent devices which may be operated by trains passing in either direction. The lever-bars are depressed by the flange of a passing enginewheel or train, and the depression of the lever projects a hook or obstruction in the path of a projection carried by a moving engine or car to operate mechanism adapted to give a signal, or the said mechanism may be connected to the brake system of the train or directly to the throttle of the locomotive. Thus a series of bars and connections are located in one section of the railway and connected by a wire to another series of bars or levers, and the depression of a bar in one series of bars will raise the hooks pivoted to the mechanism located in the series at a distance from the first series.

The invention further consists of certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, as described herein, more particularly pointed out in the claims, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a section of a railway having my safety device applied. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the inner side of one of the rails of the railway equipped with my device. Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2, with the device in operative position. Fig. 4 is a section of a rail and a detail section of one lever-bar and connections. Fig. 5 is an elevation of part of a rail and post with connections attached. Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of the application of the device in operation.

In the drawings the letter A designates a section of a railroad equipped with my safety device. At predetermined distances I 10- cate at the inner side of each rail B a series of depressible bars. In this instance three such bars are illustrated, as 1 2 3 on one side and 1 2 3 on the other side of the railway in position to be depressed by the flange of a wheel on a passing locomotive or car.

The device is arranged in duplicate on either side of the trackway, and a description of the mechanism at one side applies equally to either or both of the mechanisms.

The bars 1 2 3 are pivoted, as by crankarms 4 4, to the uprights or posts 5 and 5, and said arms 4 4 are journaled in the posts 5 and 5 and are extended downwardly, forming lever-arms 6 and 6, respectively. These lever-arms 6 and 6 are joined by a connectingbar 7. Springs 8 8 and 8 are connected to the lever-arms 6 6 by a rod or wire 9, and

thus the barsl 2 3 are depressed against the action of the springs and by them returned to their normal position.

Located on a number of the uprights or posts 5 and 5 are the pivoted hooks 10, which are of sufficient length to project when raised to the proper position a predetermined distance into the path of movement of a passing obstruction. These hooks 10 are provided with a lever-arm 11, and said arms are connected bya wire or rod 12, 12, 12 and 12 to each other, and the arm 11 is connected. to lever-arm 6, which is operated by the depression of bar 3. will raise the hooks at bars 2 and 1, and in case bar 3 should not operate said hooks then bar 2 is capable of raising its own hooks and those on bar 1 as well. Springs 13, which are suitably fastened, as at the post or upright 6, may be employed to aid in returning the hooks to their lowered horizontal position.

It will be observed that these series of depressible bars will be located at intervals along the railway-rails and that they are connected by the wire 14, Fig. 5, and thus should a train approach the series, as shown in Fig.

Thus the depression of bar 3, the wheel-flange 6 depresses the leverarm 3, as shown, and raises the hooks not only at that section, but also at the section forward, as the section shown in Fig. 6. Thus the hooks in Fig. 6 will be in position in. the path of movement of a lever 20, pivoted to some part of the train or locomotive. The arm 20 of the lever will be tripped by the hooks and short arm 21 will pull down on rod or bar 22, whereby a signal (indicated at 23) will be moved to attract the attention of an attendant, thus informing him of the approach of the train in his rear; or the levers 20 21 may be applied to operate the air-brake system on a train, thus automatically stopping the progress of the train.

The distance in which trams may be stopped when approaching or following up one another may be regulated by the length of wire 14 connecting the mechanism of the depressible bars.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1.. In a railway safety device, a bar having a plurality of pivot-bearings, a lever-arm to each pivot, springs connected to said leverarms and a bar connecting said lever arms in pairs; and a pivoted hook having an arm connected to one or more of said lever-arms, whereby with the depression of said pivoted bar the hook may be raised.

2. In a railway safety appliance, a series of depressible bars each having a pair of pivoted bearings a lever-arm connected to each bearing, a bar connecting said arms in pairs, and a series of pivoted hooks having an arm connected to said lever-arms and adapted to be raised by the depression of said depressible bars.

3. The combination with a locomotive provided with a lever, of a series of depressible bars located in the railway-track each hav ing a pair of pivoted bearings, a lever-arm connected to each bearing, a bar connecting said arms in pairs, and a series of pivoted hooks in the path of movement of the locomotive-lever having an arm connected to said lever-arms and adapted to be raised by the depression of said depressible bars.

4. I11 a railway safety appliance a series of depressible bars having a plurality of pivoted bearings, a lever-arm connected and forming part of said pivoted bearings, springs connected to said lever-arms, a bar connecting said lever-arms in pairs, and pivoted hooks having an arm connected to said leverarms, whereby with the depression of said depressible bars the hooks are raised.

5. In a railway safety appliance a series of depressible bars located parallel with the rails of and inside the track, lever-arms having a crank portion forming pivots for said bars, springs connected to said leverarms, pivoted hooks connected to said lever-arms, and means for depressing said bars to raise the hooks.

6. Ina railway safety appliance, a bar having a plurality of pivot-bearings, lever-arms having a crank portion forming pivots in said bearings, springs connected to the lever-arms, a bar connecting said arms, a pivoted hook having an arm connected to one or more of said lever-arms and means for depressing said bar to raise the hooks.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN L. WVALL.

Witnesses F. R. CULBERTSON, J. W. NICKEL. 

